TORONTO. September 17, 2003. "I told you: Some day we're going to get a live witness from CSIS," lead defence lawyer Peter Lindsay told me triumphantly as we broke for lunch on Thursday. Mr. Justice Pierre Blais had just ruled that former CSIS operative Peter John Farrell, now a teacher with the Toronto Catholic School Board, would have to testify,.

Two and a half days of explosive revelations about the spying activities of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) on non-violent dissidents like Ernst Zundel, concluded today. The hearings were marked by dozens of objections by CSIS lawyer Murray Rodych and Crown Attorney Donald MacIntosh. Former CSIS boss Mr. Justice Pierre Blais, now the judge conducting the CSIS certificate review of Mr. Zundel, blatantly ran interference for Canada's spy agency and its oversight body the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, dubbed by the witness as a "paper tiger.

The judge repeatedly restricted questioning of former CSIS operative and now whistleblower John Joseph Farrell. At times, the restrictions, always made in the name of "national security", reached the level of the ridiculous. Mr. Lindsay was restricted to material in Andrew Mitrovica's book Covert Entry: Spied, Lies and Crimes Inside Canada's Secret Service. Then, he was restricted to questions on words quoted from Mr. Farrell, Mr. Mitrovica's main source.

At one point, he asked to confirm that a meeting had taken place between Don Lunau, Mr. Mitrovica's CSIS control, face to face in the underground parking lot of CSIS's Toronto headquarters.and that he had been instructed to intercept Max French's mail, French being a friend of then Heritage Front leader Wolfgang Droege, without a warrant."National security," Mr. Rodych intoned. "It would reveal CSIS's methodology." One wondered whether Mossad or Red Chinese Intelligence would be greatly surprised to learn that, on serious occasions, a control would meet an operative face to face? Nonetheless, the former SIS boss agreed that Canada's national security was on the line and disallowed Mr. Lindsay's question. A few minutes later, Mr. Lindsay read the passage attributed to Mr. Farrell confirming just that.

For a whistleblower, Farrell was a strangely reluctant witness. Yeomen's efforts to quash his subpoena made strange bedfellows of usual opponents. On September 14, John Norris of the leftist law firm Ruby & Edwardh made extensive submissions to quash the subpoena of the formerly mouthy whistleblower, who, it turned out, was miffed at CSIS over back pay that he felt was owed him after a nine year career swiping people's mail for the snoops and doing other dirty tricks. Now, as co-counsel Chi-Kun-Shi pointed out to me, Ruby & Edwardh have had a running battle with CSIS. Firm founder Clayton Ruby went all the way to the Supreme Court in his effort to get his files from CSIS. The firm has represented Jaballah one of the Arab security certificate cases in several go-rounds with CSIS.

Yes, there they were, Norris from the supposedly anti-CSIS firm, in friendly consultation with CSIS lawyer Murray Rodych and, at one point even making objections suggested to him by Mr. Rodych.

Interestingly, on September 16, after Mr. Justice Blais has given his decision to compel the reluctant Mr. Farrell to testify, there was another secret hearing during the extended lunch hour. We can only imagine what was conveyed by the Crown and CSIS. However, when Peter Lindsay asked; "id it concern Mr.Farrell?" former CSIS boss Judge Blais responded: "I will never answer about these secret proceedings." So, there!

Mr. Farrell, 36, a tall, sturdy handsome man, with gray jacket and black trousers was accompanied each day to court by author Andrew Monrovia. The lanky journalist sported a short sleeved black muscle tee-shirt and had the disconcerting habit of appearing to be constantly leering or grinning. His presence was unusual as he too had ferociously fought so subpoena to testify and comment on his biting accusations against CSIS. At one point, his facial gestures outraged Judge Blais who demanded: "Do you have any concern with your body language? You made efforts not to testify."

"I was exercizing my right to free speech," Mitrovica answered.

Furious, Judge Blais exploded: "I am not asking for your comment. I will not tolerate this. It is not a show."

Among the important revelations extracted from the former CSIS operative, who frequently had memory lapses, are the following:

* He was involved "for years, on and off," intercepting Ernst Zundel's mail for CSIS.

* In 1999, shortly after going public with his revelations about corruption and dirty tricks in CSIS, his laptop computer with detailed notes of his CSIS contacts and activities, as well as written notes, "went missing from the apartment of a friend," where they'd been left for safekeeping.

* His control Don Lunau warned him to avoid opening parcels from a Vancouver P.O. Box and warned him about the danger of an incendiary device that might be sent to Mr. Zundel. In May, 1995, a lethal pipebomb was delivered from that Vancouver address to Ernst Zundel, thus strongly suggesting that CSIS knew the bomb was coming.

* Mr. Zundel was the only person whose mail Mr. Farrell intercepted that was the subject of a danger warning from Mr. Lunau.

As the examination went on, Mr.Lindsay was harassed by continuous objections, as MacIntosh and Rodych popped up and down with their "objection, national security" refrain. Judge Blais restricted him to narrow questions about CSIS and SIRC as they related to Mr.Zundel. Wider observations from this 9-year veteran about CSIS lawlessness were ruthlessly stifled. Accusing Mr.. Lindsay of wasting time, Judge Blains announced: "The questions are unacceptable. I am not here to make a case against CSIS. I'm here to see whether the certificate is reasonable. I will not let you make a case against CSIS."

The long suffering Peter Lindsay pointed out: "Ogther witnesses have been allowed to express opinions on SIRC when they're positive. On April 29, when Mr.Rodych was questioning Mr. Stewart, he asked, 'Do you know SIRC to be an independent body.' 'Yes,' he was told and he called SIRC's The Heritage Front Affair Report 'a balanced assessment of SIS investigation of the rightwing.'"

"'I'm not going to re-comment," Judge Blains snapped, "Stop making that type of comment when I'm making a ruling. If you do it again, it will be all over," he threatened. "This is waste of time." -- Paul Fromm :hide

A former Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent's detailed notes about his experiences at the spy agency were stolen soon after he went public about his employer's shortcomings in 2000, the ex-agent testified yesterday.

Testifying at the deportation hearing of Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel in Toronto, former agent John Farrell said that both his computer and a collection of hard-copy notes disappeared. He said the loss has left him unable to answer many of the questions posed by Mr. Zundel's lawyers.